R.I. tops in use of marijuana and illicit drugs, survey finds / Interactive

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Jan 4, 2015 at 9:56 PM

Rhode Islanders continue to use marijuana and illicit drugs at the highest rates in the nation, according to a recently released annual survey.

Richard Salit Journal Staff Writer richsalit

Rhode Islanders continue to use marijuana and illicit drugs at the highest rates in the nation, according to a recently released annual survey.

In no other state did as many people report having used marijuana in the past month: 14 percent of those age 12 and older, up from 13 percent the previous year, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Rhode Island was also tops for those who reported having used marijuana in the previous year: 20 percent, up from 19 percent.

Extra scrutiny is being applied across the country to this year’s survey as some states move to relax marijuana laws. Rhode Island is among 23 states and the District of Columbia that now permit the sale of medical marijuana for licensed patients, and a coalition is forming here to make Rhode Island the fifth state to legalize marijuana.

Meanwhile, Rhode Islanders also led the nation in consuming illegal drugs, excluding marijuana. About 4.3 percent reported having taken them in the month before being surveyed.

The numbers were made public as Rhode Island health officials, continuing to confront what they consider an epidemic of opioid abuse, reported 212 deaths from apparent accidental drug overdoses from January to November, matching the prior year’s alarming numbers.

Rhode Islanders penchant for using marijuana and other drugs is no surprise to experts here, who have long seen the state land at the top of numerous categories in the annual survey. Nevertheless, they remain somewhat mystified about the causes.

The survey “is probably an accurate portrayal, and one we’ve seen trending for a long time,” said Rebecca Boss, deputy director of the state Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals. “The why is really hard to answer. I don’t necessarily have the answers to why.”

Regardless of the reasons for such a reliably high level of drug use, further efforts to relax marijuana laws here — and the greater societal acceptance of the drug should that happen — could exacerbate matters, said Michael Rizzi, president and CEO of the substance-abuse treatment and prevention agency CODAC.

“The issue of prevention has always been something of importance.… Marijuana, for many people, seems to be an innocuous product, and with the relaxing of the laws in Rhode Island, it makes it easier for people to make a choice,” he said, one that includes thinking “at least I don’t have to worry about being arrested.”

In the survey, Rhode Island actually edged out Colorado, which has legalized marijuana use and became the first state in the nation to allow recreational sales of the drug. Colorado had the second-highest number of people reporting marijuana use in the past month: 12.7 percent.

But the survey cannot fully reflect the effect of changes in Colorado, since legalization of marijuana took place only in late 2012 and marijuana shops did not open until 2014.

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Nationally, about 7.4 percent of people age 12 and older reported monthly marijuana use.

The survey results are two-year averages, with the results released a few weeks ago reflecting 2012-2013.

The survey, conducted since 1971 by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is based on interviews with randomly selected individuals. They are visited at home and provided with computers to answer some questions confidentially. About 900 people in Rhode Island are surveyed annually.

While the survey itself does not rank states in various categories of drug and alcohol use, where the states stand relative to one another can be gleaned from the numbers.

Boss said her agency pays attention to the survey results. Numbers for underage drinking in Rhode Island also used to land at the top of the charts and prompted initiatives to deal with the issue. Since then, Rhode Island’s numbers have declined.

Now, using a federal “Partnership for Success” grant, efforts are under way in the state to address marijuana and other drugs, Boss said. A key part of that is educating the community, she said, because “if the perceived risk goes down, the use goes up.”

“We are trying to be proactive and get ahead of this,” she said. “We think we have programs in place that may not have an immediate impact, but [will] in years to come.”

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